I am looking at an 88 Convertible as a third car for my wife and I to share/play in. It has 119000 miles on it and am wondering if there are any recomendations on things to look for and or do/have checked (in particular to RX-7's) in determining the condition and value of this vehicle. I have run the vehicle history report online and it appears that one person owned it until 1997 and put 81K miles on it. Two other people have owned it for brief times since and it didn't have anything listed in the report. They are asking $4200. Good, bad? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

By the way from the pictures I've seen of it it looks to be in excellent physical condition.

Darren

 

just get a compression test done on it. From there it's your call, Nice dependable automobiles if they have a known good compression motor my penny's. peace

 

Thanks for the info. What if the compression is bad and in what range should it be?

 

I bought a 1990 Convertible with 57000 on it for $4500. And from what I've read I overpaid. So you might want to negotiate a bit.

 

I paid $2500 for my 88 vert with almost identical miles from a dealer back 3 or 4 months ago. It had a new top, but the carpet needed replacing, and general cleaning and a very good polish job for the paint. The drive train and brake/clutch and everything mechanical was perfect however.

So $4200 seems a little high

 

$0.00

 

Excellent info on the price! I'm going to look at it at lunch. I am hoping to get it in the $3500 range but maybe I can do better than that.

 

Just got back from looking at this thing. Needs a new top and the seats were cracking pretty badly. The body looked pretty good though. I am very disappointed. I'm thinking about offering him $2000 for it. if he won't take it I'll keep looking.

 

You may want to consider pricing having the top and seats redone before offering that much.

 

I paid $3300 for my 88 vert back in November.. Had oil cooler O ring leak, shifter bushings and a cracked radio panel. everything else was perfect... Oh it had 124k on the clock, but its had a rebuilt mazda motor I THINK, not really sure as she didnt know, but oh well its been a solid car except for the brake master cyclinder and the starter going out a few months apart...

 

Priced new top. Looks like about $1000. Couldn't find much on the seats though. Any ideas where to look there? I offered him $2000 and he stated the lowest he could go was $3400. I'm going to call tomorrow and give him a chance to WOW me about how great the car is.

 

If you want to keep the headrest speakers, IE the stock seats, and just recover them, figure at least $600 each for Mazda leather (I saw these somewhere on 'sale') for $350 top, 250 bottom. Retail was like $2000 a seat. Ouch. Local leather shop is your best bet otherwise. I have no idea how much that is.